The folding sectional table of the present invention is of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,587,010 to R. W. Thompson dated Feb. 26, 1952; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,358 to A. Y. Sung dated Sept. 19, 1972, and now owned by the inventor of the instant application, wherein the top planar supporting surface is formed by two mating halves when the table is in the erected position. Each half is secured to a pair of braces which extend underneath each half, and leg members are pivotally connected to the free ends of the braces. The leg members cross on opposite sides of the top surface and are pivotally connected to each other at their point of crossing. In folding the table, each half is pivoted in a direction toward each other causing the crossed leg members to also pivot in a direction toward each other until they become aligned in a vertical plane so that each half can then be folded downwardly and become positioned on each side of the legs.
The two mating halves of Thompson's table are continuous and their inboard edges abut one another when in the erected position. A dowel is provided on the edge of one of the halves and fits into a hole provided in the edge of the other half, whereby the two halves are held in alignment and lateral movement between the two halves is prevented.
The two mating halves of Sung's table are provided by a plurality of equally spaced slats wherein a pair of spaced elements, of a width generally related to the distance between the slats, are associated with the slat on one half adopted to mate with the leading slat on the other half, whereby the distance between the halves is maintained generally equal to the distance between the slats, to thereby provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance to the supporting surface of the table when erected.
While Thompson's dowel and hole arrangement prevents lateral movement between the halves, some difficulty has been experienced when erecting and folding the table. For instance, when erecting the table, it is not only necessary to fold the halves upwardly to align the dowel with the hole but also it is necessary to push the halves in a direction toward each other so that the dowel will enter the hole. When folding the table, it is necessary to first pull the halves in a direction away from each other before proceeding the folding of the halves. Oftentimes the user is unaware of the dowel assembly and proceeds to fold the table halves before separating their abutting edges, resulting in the dowel becoming broken.
While Sung's spacers provide the aesthetically pleasing appearance to the supporting surface since the distance or space between each half equals the space between the respective slats in each half, the spacers do not prevent lateral movement between the halves.
After considerable research and experimentation, the folding sectional table of the present invention has been deviced which includes spacer elements between the two mating halves of the supporting surface, the spacer elements being constructed and arranged to prevent lateral movement of the mating halves when the table is erected, and allowing the mating halves to be folded toward each other without first being pulled away from each other during the folding operation. The spacer elements are also dimensioned to provide the aesthetically pleasing appearance when the mating halves are provided by spaced slats.
The spacer elements employed in the folding table of the present invention comprises, essentially, a first pair of projections provided on the edge of one of the halves, and a second pair of projectons on the edge of the other half, the first pair of projections being provided with recesses opened on two sides for receiving the second pair of projections, whereby the two halves can be merely folded to the erected position without requiring the halves to be pushed in a direction toward each other to cause the second pair of projectons to enter the recesses, and to the collapsed position, without pulling the halves in a direction away from each other to remove the second pair of projections from the recesses. A folding table is thereby provided having the aesthetic appearance of the table disclosed in the aforementioned Sung patent, and the lateral stability provided by the dowel disclosed in the aforementioned Thompson patent but without the disadvantage of the dowel becoming broken when folding the table to the collapsed position.